unsexy conf 2013: darian shirazi, radius

Customers, Culture and Cash

@ranjithkumaran

Raise your hand

How many of your employees talk to customers every day?

a. 0-5%b. 5%-20%c. 20%-50%d. 50-100%

How many should?

Two companies, different approaches

2004-2010 (current board member)

2011-present

A familiar model

Pre-funding founders fielded all customer inbounds.

Transitioned to traditional support model post funding.

Invested in customer feedback, success, and other programs. Measured using NPS.

A recent email from a well-known startup

“Thanks for writing in. You're right in reporting this, so thanks so much for doing so. I have let the bugs team know about this. The bugs team is responsible for responding to bugs/inconsistencies on the product. In future, please feel free to e-mail bugs@-----.com.”

YOU SUCK!

A different approach (WIP)

Pre-funding, pre-revenue all employees fielded customer inbounds.

Post funding: same.

Though we have dozens of enterprise customers and 2.5M+ end-users we have yet to hire a single customer support head.

Support parties!

Always the same participants: the (current and future) business

leaders.

Obvious learnings

Product-market fit acceleration (nuff said).

Markets change fast.

Not everyone lives in Silicon Valley.

More subtle, however

Customers (and partners) hate your competitors.

You’ll ship faster when constantly interrupted by customers.

Authenticity translates to LTV*.

Cash money

Your sales process starts before you know it.

Forging customer relationships early shortcuts sales cycles dramatically.

Upsell, retention, and displacement of competitors come naturally.

How to

Start early and set the precedent.

Put the tools in place, they’re cheap:

• live chat • email (direct)• phone

Walk the talk.

@ranjithkumaran